“During a special operation […] the criminals were liquidated and the employees who were taken hostage were released and were not injured,” the prison services said in a statement. The prison administration had indicated a few hours earlier that defendants were holding two guards in detention center number 1 in the Rostov region, located at the gateway to the Russian Caucasus.
According to a source within the police interviewed by the state agency TASS, members of ISIS who were to appear in court on charges of “terrorism” were among the hostage-takers. They were holed up in the courtyard of the detention center, armed with a pocketknife, a baton and an axe, according to the same source.
Russia targeted numerous times
The attackers, who numbered six according to the Interfax agency, had asked to be provided with a car and to be allowed to leave the detention center in exchange for the release of the hostages.
Russia has been targeted on multiple occasions by attacks and attacks claimed by the jihadist organization. On March 22, gunmen opened fire in a concert hall near Moscow, killing at least 144 people and injuring hundreds. It was the deadliest attack on Russian soil since 2004.
